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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24235165">What a Tangled Web We Weave</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, more tags will eventually be added, oneshots, open to prompts?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 19:21:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,342</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24235165</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Dear me, I've forgotten my manners. How have you been?"<br/>Then she laughs when the girl screams. "Pity, I thought Andy would've taught you better than that."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I am not (in any shape or form, or in this case, in any way) J. K. Rowling. I am just a sad person that enjoys dabbling in her world.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>She watches him over her Hufflepuff scarf, mirth evident in her eyes. He glares back at her.<br/>"You tricked me."<br/>Tonks is positively glowing now, her hands clasped maliciously, her grin just peeking over the edge of her scarf. She looks like a Cheshire cat, but not like a Cheshire cat.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Prompt from DancingAndTheDreaming: awkward first missions</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first mission they go on together, Tonks tricks him into drinking coffee.</p><p>He had never been one for coffee, he'd much rather have tea. Tea is what you drink when you have time, and Remus has too much time on his hands. </p><p>She watches him over her Hufflepuff scarf, mirth evident in her eyes. He glares back at her.</p><p>"You tricked me."</p><p>Tonks is positively glowing now, her hands clasped maliciously, her grin just peeking over the edge of her scarf. She looks like a Cheshire cat, but not like a Cheshire cat.</p><p>"We've got a nice long day ahead of us, can't have you dozing off on the job, can we?"</p><p>She watches him as she stirs her expresso, Remus wonders how one person can stomach so much caffeine and still function.</p><p>"There's caffeine in tea!"</p><p>She knocks back the rest of her drink. "For merlin's sake, I'm not going to poison you! And it's a latte, it's sweet. I've even got them to add whipped cream and chocolate syrup, you can't have chocolate with tea, can you?"</p><p>"You can have it <em> with </em>tea."</p><p>"Oh, you're so difficult. Hurry up now."</p><p>He looks from the cup to her face and back again, skeptical, especially in light of knowing the smirk plastered across her face. It's Sirius's smirk, replayed on her face, just framed by blue curls instead of black.</p><p>"It's from Honeydukes, how bad could it be?" she plucks the cooling drink from his hands and takes a sip, for good measure.</p><p>He takes it back, unconvinced, she's watching him as if he's an especially interesting show on the telly that she's looked forwards to watching.</p><p>"Go on, before I decide to get myself a bowl of popcorn."</p><p>He looks at her again, still doubtfully, then takes a tiny sip.</p><p> </p><p>The second time they go on a mission together, he is baffled.</p><p>He is baffled by the way she thinks and talks and does stuff. She doesn't think before doing something, and all the same, she does. She would talk about one thing, then say something completely out of context, and then she'd slide back into the conversation as if nothing had happened. She would regularly trip, and yet when she's dueling, her motions are fluid and quick and her wandwork seamless. She would walk up to random muggle pedestrians and ask if any of them had seen her pet dinosaur and walk away laughing at their confused expression. She makes up the most insane stories on the spot and tells them as if they were real. And at the same time, she stutters and fumbles with her words and can barely make a comprehendible sentence.</p><p>It's utterly perplexing.</p><p> </p><p>The third time they go on a mission, the last time before she has to leave on a work-related-weeklong quest, Remus ends up in a muggle supermarket while Tonks browses the aisles for pasta. He stands there, confused while Tonks asks him whether or not she should get the linguine or the farfalle.</p><p>She's so indecisive at times, and Remus smiles as she picks up yet another package of pasta, asking if the tortellini is better.</p><p>"You know, you should do that more often."</p><p>She didn't even look. </p><p>"Do what?"</p><p>"Smile, you look less closed-off when you do that."</p><p>He didn't even know he was being closed-off. </p><p>"I think I'll get this rotelle pasta. It has such a lovely shape, don't you agree?"</p><p>"Closed-off." He's still musing.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading, please drop a review or prompt below, until next time!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Bellatrix Enjoys Herself</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The mudblood curls up and cries. Pathetic. Just like her blood-traitor sister and her dead husband. Just like that werewolf and that son of his and that stupid old man that caused her all those miserable, Dementor-filled years. And they will all be dead if they aren't already. Because they are pathetic and worthless and Bellatrix hears a laugh escape her lips. She stands there and laughs and hears the battle go on and hears the Dark Lord is calling her. She will go. Because unlike her niece, she is worth something. She is the Dark Lord's most trusted assistant. He is his most faithful follower. So she will go.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The beginning of this chapter was taken from the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Many of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time. You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest."</p><p>---</p><p>And so she does, but not entirely by herself. The mudblood her sister married is dead, and not from her, she regrets. That blood-traitor of a cousin, she killed him. And now, she will kill Andromeda's two-faced offspring and her husband and whatever's left of them. She's heard they have a pup. A half-breed mutt, she'll get him too.</p><p>But first things first, and Bellatrix knows that she will eventually get all of them. But she is wasting time.</p><p> </p><p>She finds her, the shape-shifting spawn of her sister's. Oh, she will have a marvelous time with her. She'll let her draw out her screams and writhe and bleed until she is nothing more than a husk. An empty, useless human shell.</p><p> </p><p>Bellatrix enjoys this, ducking and dodging and throwing insults. She'll get the werewolf next, he will make a lovely rug. But once again, she is getting distracted.</p><p>"Where's that blood-traitor mother of yours? Is she too good to take part?"</p><p>She doesn't respond.</p><p>"Is she home, taking care of your little mongrel pup?"</p><p>She knows she's hit a mark, both figuratively and literally. The mudblood crumples to the ground and Bellatrix smiles. It is not a nice smile, it is hollow and maniacal and she keeps her wand tip trained at the twitching, convulsing figure splayed against the dusty pavilion. "Dear me, I've forgotten my manners. How have you been?"</p><p>Then she laughs when the girl screams. "Pity, I thought Andy would've taught you better than that."</p><p>She flicks her wrist at her body, it strikes against the wall and she screams again. Bellatrix loves this. "<em> Crucio </em>."</p><p>This is great, she hasn't had so much fun since those Longbottoms. Blood-traitors, they were, and look at them now.</p><p>"<em> Crucio </em>."</p><p>" <em>C</em><em>rucio.</em>"</p><p>"<em> Crucio </em>."</p><p>The body, pathetic little thing writhes and thrashes on the stone. That ended rather abruptly. She will still have fun.</p><p>"<em> Legilimens. </em>"</p><p>---</p><p>It is completely dark at first, then she watches as the mudblood throws herself at the werewolf. It's disgusting, how she clings onto him. Bellatrix can't hear what they are saying.</p><p>---</p><p>Bellatrix watches her as she buries her face in the werewolf's tangled fur. Her arms are wrapped around its neck and Bellatrix notices that her stomach is just slightly round. So it is true, she has had the child.</p><p>---</p><p>Now, she watches as the girl walks aimlessly through the darkened streets of Hogsmeade. Her hair is brown, it carries a revolting resemblance to that of Andromeda's. She has been crying, her eyes are bloodshot and she's not doing a good job of hiding it.</p><p>Weak.</p><p>---</p><p>Bellatrix watches a little girl walks up to a sad, poor-looking man. It's the werewolf, the girl is her niece, she hands an ice-cream cone to him and wishes him a 'Merry Christmas' before disappearing.</p><p>---</p><p>The girl is holding a swaddled-up figure to her chest, the werewolf is hovering over her. Both are smiling, Bellatrix hates how happy they look. It is sickening.</p><p>---</p><p>Now, she is in the Department of Mysteries. Bellatrix remembers this vividly, that triumphant moment when she killed that cousin of hers. She watches it replay, she and the girl are dueling and Bellatrix watches as the mudblood's body falls, limp and pale. Then, she is thrown out. </p><p>---</p><p>"You disgust me." She doesn't know if the girl can hear her but she wants to talk. "You and your family and that tainted blood of yours. Shame, you could've been one of us if you were someone else. You could've been important, but you're not, and this is what we do to people like you. Don't you wish you were someone else?"</p><p>The mudblood curls up and cries. <em>Pathetic</em>. Just like her blood-traitor sister and her dead husband. Just like that werewolf and that son of his and that stupid old man that caused her all those miserable, Dementor-filled years. And they will all be dead if they aren't already. Because they are pathetic and worthless and Bellatrix hears a laugh escape her lips. She stands there and laughs and hears the battle go on and hears the Dark Lord is calling her. She will go. Because unlike her niece, she is worth something. She is the Dark Lord's most trusted assistant. He is his most faithful follower. So she will go.</p><p>"<em> Avada Kedavra </em>."</p><p>She stares at the convulsing figure finally stiffens. Bellatrix is merciful. She has done well.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading and please leave a comment or prompt below </p><p>Also, completely unrelated, has anyone watched The Good Place? Just asking ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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